Nintendo Wii sales slow post Wii U reveal

Nintendo Co.’s Wii held slow demand in Japan post reveal of the Wii U this month.

Media Create Co. on Fri. reported that the Wii sold 6,678 units between June 13 and June 19 to rank No. 4 in overall sales.

By comparison, the Wii sold 6,357 units the week prior.

The hardware ranked one title in the top 10, Wii Party at No. 9 with 6,556 copies sold.

Nintendo in June said it will release Wii U, the successor the Wii hardware, in 2012.

The Wii U includes a multi-core CPU by IBM Corp., a Radeon-based high-definition GPU by AMD Inc., and will utilize flash storage with optional expansion through SD memory cards or an external hard drive.

The full high-definition hardware can relay 1080p resolution with HDMI or component cables. It will also support S-Video and composite cables.

The Wii U controller includes a 6.2-inch, 16:9 touch screen that allows users to transfer gameplay to the controller screen, or use the added screen to relay menu items.

The controller includes two analog circle pads, a d-pad, touch screen, microphone, speakers, gyrophone, face buttons and two sets of triggers.

Images to the controller screen wirelessly from the Wii u. Titles can be structured to use the controller and the screen at the same time. Examples include swiping a ninja star from the controller that fires to the TV screen.

Nintendo in Apr. recorded a 66 percent decline in profits amid confirmation of a successor to the Wii console to be sold in 2012.

The company held a net profit of $945M in fiscal Mar. compared to $2.78 billion the year prior.

Net sales fell 29 percent to $12.3 billion.

The company sold 15.1 million Wii units in the fiscal year, down from 20.1 million units the year prior.